Last Week
 Bradley opened a season-long, seven-game homestand with a three-game series against Missouri State.  The Bears took all three games from the Braves, claiming the series opener 10-1 before winning both games of a Sunday doubleheader (7-2 & 3-1).  Freshman Brianne Joseph (5-for-10) and senior Brittany Fairbairn (5-for-12) both collected five hits in the weekend series, while freshman Madeline Lynch-Crumrine pitched 14.2 innings during the series and owns a 1.91 ERA in three appearances. 

This Week
 Bradley welcomes Northern Iowa to Laura Bradley Park Wednesday for a single game before taking on Indiana State Friday and Saturday at home to close out a season-long, seven-game homestand.  UNI swept the regular-season series last year and holds a 42-29 lead in the all-time series.  The Braves took two of three games from Indiana State last season and BU has won five of the last six games against the Sycamores.  Bradley holds a 48-27 lead in the series against Indiana State. 

Double Trouble
 Senior Brittany Fairbairn leads Bradley with 43 hits and junior Julie Sherman has collected a career-high 41 hits through 42 games as the duo are the first BU pair to record 40 hits in the same season since Joanna Pettit and Molly Bergeson each finished the 2006 season with 43 hits.  Sherman leads the team with a .336 batting average, while Fairbairn is second on the squad with a .323 average.  Bradley has not had two players hit .300 or better in the same season since three individuals finished the 2004 campaign hitting better than .300.  Laura Harms and Stefanie Cheney both hit .354 during the 2004 season, while Brittany Mynsberge finished the season with a .303 average.  

Closing Out The Homestand
 Bradley is in search of its first home victory of the season as the Braves close out a season-long, seven-game homestand this week with a single game against Northern Iowa and a three-game series vs. Indiana State.  BU has played a league low seven home games and two MVC teams have already played more home games than the Braves will have for the entire season.  Seven of Bradley's final 13 games are scheduled to be played at Laura Bradley Park. 

Keeping Them Off The Board
 Freshman Madeline Lynch-Crumrine did not give up an earned run in her first three appearances in Missouri Valley Conference play before Missouri State snapped her streak of seven consecutive innings in league play without an earned run Saturday.  Lynch-Crumrine owned a 1.91 ERA in three appearances over the weekend and has a team-best 1.45 ERA in six appearances in conference play.  She has struck out 13 batters and walked just one in 19.1 innings against Valley opponents. 

Battling For Position
 This weekend's three-game series between Bradley and Indiana State is an important one for the Braves as they battle for position in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.  At the halfway point of conference play, BU is currently two games behind the Sycamores for what would be the final spot in the eight-team State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in mid-May.  With four conference series remaining on the slate, Bradley's final four league opponents are currently sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth in the Valley standings.  The four squads enter the week with a 19-39 (.328) conference record and 59-105 (.360) overall mark. 

Home, Sweet Home
 Bradley opened a season-long, seven-game homestand last weekend with a three-game series against Missouri State and wrap things up with home games against UNI and a three-game set vs. Indiana State.  The Braves play 10 of the final 16 games of the year at home. 

Lending A Helping Hand
 Bradley hosted a clinic for children eighth grade and under following the team's April 17th home game against Missouri State.  Proceeds from the clinic went towards the purchase of a new wheelchair for Bradley softball fan Julie Prill, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of two.  Donations can be made by contacting assistant coach Jennie Shollenberger at jshollenberger@bradley.edu or (309) 677-2625.

Breaking Into The Lineup
 Freshman KayCee Miller belted her first career home run at Creighton and has been on a tear since.  After a 1-for-22 start to the year, Miller is hitting .292 (7-for-24) with a double, two home runs and six RBI over the last 10 games.  She has started each of the last 10 contests overall. 

Turn Two
 Bradley has turned an impressive 15 double plays on the season and ranks second in the league behind only Evansville, which has 16 double plays this year.  BU's 15 doubles plays are the most for the squad since finishing the 2005 season with a school record 21 double plays.  The Braves have eight double plays in Missouri Valley Conference play. 

Driving Them In
 Scoring is up for the Braves in 2011 as the team is averaging 3.26 runs per contest compared to 2.94 runs per game in 2010.  In fact the 3.26 runs per game average is the highest for a Bradley team since averaging 3.63 runs per tilt in 2006.  BU's 114 RBI this year is nine short of the team's total of 123 from each of the last two seasons. 

Tough Slate
 Bradley has played a total of 11 games against teams ranked in the top 50 in the NCAA's RPI report as of April 12 and over half of the Braves' games this season have been against squads ranked in the top 100.  Twenty-four of BU's 42 games (57 percent) of BU's games have been against top 100 teams.  Bradley has faced an additional six teams ranked in the top 150, meaning 71 percent (30 of 42 games) have been against teams in the top 150.  Northern Iowa (#90) is the only top 150 team remaining on the schedule for the Braves.

Legging Them Out
 Senior Brittany Fairbairn legged out her Missouri Valley Conference leading fourth triple of the season against Creighton and has taken over the team lead in extra-base hits with 12 of her team-best 43 hits going for extra bases.  Fairbairn's four triples are the most by a Bradley player since Molly Bergeson collected five triples in 2005 and Fairbairn is tied with Natalie Quinn and Sharon Kempf for 10th in school history with seven career triples.  Fairbairn is the first Bradley player with seven or more career triples since Kim Suffield wrapped up her career with a school record 18 three-baggers in 2000. 

Pitching Coming Around
 Bradley's pitchers got off to a rough start to the season, posting a 6.09 ERA in the first 17 games of the season.  BU's pitching staff has made a big improvement, combining for a 3.92 ERA in the last 25 games.  During the opening stretch the Braves were surrendering 9.65 hits and 2.76 walks per game, but have lowered those numbers to 8.04 hits and 2.60 walks per contest over the last 25 outings. 

Outfield Assists
 In addition to being one of the team's top offensive threats, senior Brittany Fairbairn has been one of Bradley's top defensive players and already has 13 outfield assists on the year.  Fairbairn has recorded 13 of Bradley's 18 outfield assists this season.  In 42 games this season she already has 38 more putouts and nine more assists than she had in 41 starts in the outfield in 2010. 

Finishing What You Started
 Junior pitcher Lindsay Hufeld tossed her team-leading 12th complete game of the season against Southern Illinois and Bradley has 19 complete game efforts this season.  The Braves 19 complete games this season are the most since the 2009 team had 34 complete game efforts.  Hufeld is BU's leader in innings pitched (104.2) and needs two and two-third innings to post the most innings pitched since Ashley Birdsong tossed a school season record 232 innings in 2009. 

Head Coach
 A former assistant coach at Bradley (1997), Amy Hayes returned to The Hilltop in July 2008 to take over the head coaching reigns of the Braves after a three-year run as head coach at Portland State.  Now in her third season, Hayes has led the Braves to a 49-96 record (.338) mark in her time as head coach.  In addition, to posting their best conference finish since the 1995 squad finished fifth in the MVC with a 10-10 league record, she led the Braves to their first MVC Tournament title and first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history in 2009.  In her 10th year as a collegiate head coach, Hayes was head coach at Portland State for three years where she led the Vikings to a 92-81 (.532) record and the school's first-ever conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.  She was head coach at Boston University from 2001-04 and guided the Terriers to a 121-95 (.560) mark, three America East Conference regular-season titles, two conference tournament titles and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.  Hayes has a career record of 262-272 (.491) career coaching record and has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament four times.

Staying In State
 After playing 25 games in five different states, Bradley opened Missouri Valley Conference play with a doubleheader at Illinois State March 19 to kick off a stretch in which the Braves are scheduled to play 18 of 21 games in the state of Illinois.  BU played a three-game series in Omaha, Neb., April 2 & 3 for the only games outside the Land of Lincoln between a March 15 game at Fresno State and an April 27 doubleheader at Northern Iowa.  Overall, the Braves are slated to play 22 of the final 30 games of the 2011 regular season in the state of Illinois.

Game On
 Bradley is third in the MVC in games played (42) and the Braves have had just one game cancelled this season (the series finale against league-leading Drake).  BU's 28 regular-season non-conference games are the most since playing 32 non-Valley games in 2004.  With 13 games left on the regular-season schedule, the Braves need to play just eight of those contests to reach the 50-game mark in the regular season for the first time since 2005.

Increased Output
 Junior Julie Sherman might be one of the biggest surprises in the Missouri Valley Conference this season, ranking among the league leaders with a .336 batting average on the year.  Sherman, who is now hitting left handed, entered the year with a career .176 batting average; has more than matched her career hit total entering the season and also has a career-best 18 runs scored.  She is hitting .400 with runners on base (24-for-60) and boasts a .389 batting average with runners in scoring position. 

Singler's Hit Streak Ends At 10 Games
 Senior Kate Singler drove in Bradley's run against UNLV on Feb. 7, but had a career-best 10-game hit streak end with an 0-for-3 effort against the Rebels.  The 10-game hit streak was the longest by a Bradley player since Trish Kowalewski hit safely in 11 consecutive games in 2005.  During her 10-game streak, Singler hit .394 with three doubles, two homers, six runs scored and eight RBI.  She is hitting .278 on the season and has team highs in home runs (4) and RBI (19). 

Patience At The Plate
 In addition to raising her batting average more than 30 points to .323, senior Brittany Fairbairn has displayed a great deal of patience at the plate in her final season.  Fairbairn leads the team with 11 base on balls through 42 games and leads the squad with a .377 on base percentage.  Her 11 walks this season are already four more than she had the entire 2010 season and she is the only BU player with more than eight walks. 

Braves Claim Tournament Title
 Bradley was one of three teams to go 3-1 at the Troy Classic in Troy, Ala., and the Braves were declared champs of the tournament due to the run differential tie-breaker.  BU opened play with a 10-2 win against Samford for the first win of the season, before falling in extra innings to Troy by the score of 8-7.  Bradley rallied for a 4-1 victory against Central Arkansas later that day and capped things off with a 5-3 win against North Florida.  Junior Julie Sherman hit .545 in three games, scoring three runs and driving in one to earn all-tournament honors.  Senior Kate Singler joined Sherman on the all-tournament team, scoring four runs and driving in another four while hitting .417 in all four games. 

Looking For Rare Feat
 Senior Kate Singler drove in a team-best 25 runs in 2010 as a junior and has a team-leading 19 RBI through 39 games this spring.  Singler is looking to become just the fifth player in program history to lead the team in RBI in back-to-back years and would be the first player to drive in the most runs in consecutive seasons since Joanna Petit in 2005 & 2006.  Singler has four more RBI than any other player on the roster and is Bradley's active career leader with 44 career runs batted in. 

What's Back
 Bradley returned nine of 19 letterwinners, including four starting position players from last year's team which finished 15-34 overall and was 10th in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 5-21 league record.  The Braves roster also features two of four pitchers in addition to welcoming five freshmen and one junior college transfer.  The top returning hitter in the lineup is senior Brittany Fairbairn who hit leadoff part of the year in her first season and ranked fourth on the team with a .288 batting average in addition to ranking second with 18 RBI.  Fellow senior Kate Singler drove in a team-best 25 runs and paced the squad with six doubles and four home runs.  Senior pitcher Katie Dennis is the top hurler for the Braves with 32 starts in 51 career appearances to her credit heading into the season.

Welcome To The Squad
 Bradley welcomed one of its largest recruiting classes in recent years to the 2011 squad, as five freshmen and one junior college transfer will make their debuts with the Braves.  Pitcher/outfielder Madeline Lynch-Crumrine is her high schools career hits leader and posted a 50-8-2 record in the circle in addition to helping her high school to a state championship.  Infield/utility player Brianne Joseph also helper her team to an Idaho state title, while Needles, Calif., native Alex Chandler was the Nevada Class 2A Player of the Year after helping her team to a state championship.  Springfield, Ill., native Mariah Cole was a second-team all-state selection and KayCee Miller of Omaha, Neb., also earned second-team all-state honors.  Illinois Central College transfer Lindsay Hufeld was an all-region selection at ICC last spring and helped the Cougars to a regional championship game appearance.

Bean Ball
 Senior Kate Singler is nearing a dubious distinction after getting hit by a pitch last against Western Illinois.  Despite playing only one and a half seasons on The Hilltop, Singler ranks third in school history after being hit by a pitch 11 times in her career.  Only Christine Cooney (16) and Lauren Meister (14) have been hit by more pitches in their BU careers.  Both Cooney and Meister were four-year letterwinners. 

Braves Picked 10th In Preseason Valley Poll
 Bradley was picked to finish 10th in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, voted on by the league coaches after a 10th-place finish in 2010.  The Braves finish three points behind Indiana State for ninth.  Illinois State and Southern Illinois finished in a tie for first with Illinois State receiving five of the 10 first-place votes and SIU garnering four first-place nods.

On The Internet
 Fans can follow live stats of all Bradley home games, and select road contests on the official Bradley Athletics website (www.BradleyBraves.com).  In addition all home contests will feature a free live audio steam also available at www.BradleyBraves.com and home games will also include a subscription based video stream.

Moving Them Over
 Junior Jackie Roth collected her team-leading sixth sacrifice hit of the season at Illinois State and pushed her career sacrifice hit total to 24.  Her 24 sacrifice hits are tied for the sixth best career total in school history.  She needs three more to move into a tie with Brenda Nelson for fifth place in school history and is one short of having the most sacrifice bunts since Christine Cooney finished out her four-year career in 2007 with 30. 

Up Next
 Bradley kicks off the final road swing of the season, opening a six-game swing with a doubleheader at Northern Iowa on April 27.  The Braves will face Evansville (April 30 & May 1) on the road before traveling to Macomb, Ill., for a single game at Western Illinois on May 3 to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule.